Sourcery (Discworld)

by Terry Pratchett

Book Overview

There was an eighth son of an eighth son. He was, quite naturally, a wizard. And there it should have ended. However (for reasons we'd better not go into), he had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son...a wizard squared...a source of magic...a Sourcerer. SOURCERY SEES THE RETURN OF RINCEWIND AND THE LUGGAGE AS THE DISCWORLD FACES ITS GREATEST-AND FUNNIEST-CHALLENGE YET.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451162331
• ISBN13: 9780451162335
• Release Date: December 1989
• Publisher: Ace
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

It's Terry Pratchet... not much more needs to be said!!

Terry Pratchett is my all-time laugh out loud favorite. His characters never get old, the laughs never stop surprising you... If you've read some of the later stuff... it's nice back-ground. If you're new to discworld, this is great stuff...

Discworld

I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing. A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome. Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome! Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too. Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves. I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!" I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.

A spellbinding tale of sorcery

When the eighth son of an eighth son has an eighth son named Coin, that child is a wizard squared - a mighty sorcerer. Sorcery makes wizardry look like child's play, and ten-year-old Coin, guided by his staff imbued with the spirit of his wizard father, wants his magical power to reign supreme over all Discworld. Starting off by usurping the position of Archchancellor of Unseen University, he proceeds to overpower anyone and anything that stands in his way. The Patrician Vetinari, and even the gods themselves, are no match for Coin. The entire future of Discworld is at stake as it teeters on the brink of the Apocralypse. No, I didn't misspell it - the Aprocralypse is an apocryphal apocalypse in which magic will destroy Discworld and the Ice Age will return. Rincewind, the bumbling and cowardly wizard of previous Discworld books, is back to face his most daunting challenge yet as he is commanded by the Archchancellor's magic hat to vanquish sorcery and save Discworld. He reluctantly joins forces with the beautiful but fierce Conina and an adolescent barbarian-wannabe named Nijel, and together they travel from Ankh Morpork to Klatch and back using some very unusual modes of transportation. Rincewind's many-legged luggage makes an appearance as well, but it keeps wandering off and it doesn't do much to advance the story line. Pratchett delivers another madcap adventure full of satire and spoofery. He does a wonderful job of portraying a parade of funny characters. Among them are a filthy rich Klatchian ruler who spouts bad poetry, the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Aprocralypse, the orangutan librarian of Unseen University, and a genie who doesn't obey commands very well. Pratchett can anthropomorphize objects like no one else. Besides the luggage, he animates an ill-tempered magic staff and the frightened grimoires of the university library. He enlightens the reader on the nature of hit-or-miss inspiration, warns of the flaws of the wizards' genetic experiments, and presents a magic lamp paradox that even the laws of physics can't keep up with. This is a hilarious story of magic gone awry. Since it builds on the characters from the previous books of the Discworld wizard track, I suggest you read "The Color of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic" first, if you haven't already done so. Then dive headlong into this one. You will be enchanted! Eileen Rieback

It's up to Rincewind to save the world. Oook!

As a big Rincewind fan, I count Sourcery as one of my favorite Pratchett novels. This fifth novel of Discworld is the first to have a real epic quality to it. Seeing as how the plot is hinged around the "Apocralypse" (even though an inebriated Pestilence, War, and Famine cannot remember the proper term for it), it pretty much has to be an epic. Ipslore was a natural-born wizard, the eight son of an eighth son, who did the unthinkable (not to mention unwizardly) act of marrying and having an eighth son of his own--a sourcerer. By tricking Death, he enters his own wizard staff and later guides the ten-year-old boy Coin in assuming the Archchancellorship of Unseen University and trying to take over the world. A sourcerer has free rein over the use of magic, unlike modern-day wizards who talk about magic but rarely perform it. Sourcerers almost destroyed the Discworld in ancient times in the Mage Wars, and young Coin sets in motion a modern-day Mage War that can only end in disaster. Only one man can stop the sourcerer and save the world--most unfortunately, that one man is the inept wizard Rincewind. His only allies are the wise and good Librarian (who happens to be an orangutan), the beautiful yet deadly thief Conina (daughter of Cohen the Barbarian), and Nigel, the skinniest hero on the Discworld whose only heroic wisdom comes from a ghost-written book by Cohen the aforementioned Barbarian. The Luggage also plays a part, but he/she/it is not there at Rincewind's side. I love how the character of Rincewind is strengthened and expanded in this novel; he's still the funny little man in a pointy hat that we met in earlier Discworld novels, but instead of running around all over the world trying to avoid dying, Rincewind is transformed in these pages into a hero--not a very good one, of course, but a hero nonetheless. His commitment to wizardry is steadfast and firm, while the vast majority of successful wizards go along with Coin, delight in the new magical powers they gain through sourcery, and eventually wage a magical war among themselves in the pursuit of raw power. Rincewind redeems himself admirably here by actually performing some acts of bravery, risking his life--albeit reluctantly--for the sake of the Discworld. The book starts out like gangbusters, and although it loses a little steam and wanders a little bit in the later stages, the conclusion brings everything together rather nicely. It does, however, leave a few questions unanswered for the time being. The character of Coin, the ten-year-old sourcerer, could have used more thrashing out, I felt, but Conina and Nigel are very interesting new characters in Pratchett's universe. Sourcery is overflowing with typical Pratchett humor, but it also features an exciting, narrowly-focused storyline that provides a wealth of new information about the wizards of Unseen University, the brave and wise banana-craving Librarian, and the crucial role and importance of magic in the Discworl

Loved It!

As you read in the reviews, there was an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son. He was a sourcerer, name of Coin. He was only 10 years old, but his father's soul was in Coin's staff, and he (the father) had many grudes against the Unseen University. So when Coin was ten years of age, he went to the UU and there lured all of the wizards with promises of power and threats to come to his side. He gave the wizards so much power that (as everyone knows wizards would do if they had enough power) they took over the Dic. No hope survived. Nothing could stand up to their magic. No wizards were left free from Coin's rule. Except for one. You see, when one wizard saw the hordes of rats, mice, bedbugs, gargolyes, ravens, and cocrouches leaving the UU, he decided to go out and get quietly drunk. While there, that certain wizard meet Corina, daughter of Cohen the barbarian, (who wants to be a hairdresser, but whose instincts keep getting in the way) who stole the Archchalcellor's Hat (which was the first thing that not only asked to be stolen, but gave instuctions in an athoritive tone as to how it would be disposed of.) Rincewind the wizard isn't much of a wizard, but he's the only hope the Dic has as the powers of the Hat fight with the powers of Sourcery,(both of which care nothing for what their stuggles do to the land.) After The Hat betrays him, this cowerdly wizard myust find a way to stop the Disc from being destroyed by the magical wars, the dungon dimensions from eptying into the universe, and somehow destroy Coin's staff, with only the help of the Luggage, a magic carpet, (One of Rincewind's greatest fears is heights) and a half-brick in a rubber sock. The ending left me hankering for Eric, the next book in the series.